As Darfur Aid Efforts Struggle, Sudan Rejects 'Foreign Intervention'

Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) - Humanitarian agencies operating in Sudan's eastern region of Darfur say a lack of security is hindering their activities, but Sudan's Islamist president says a more robust United Nations peacekeeping force will not be allowed in the troubled region for now.

"The success of an African Union mission [deployed in Darfur] is a success for Africa and testimony of their ability to achieve peace and stability in the region without foreign intervention," Omar al-Bashir told reporters in the Kenyan capital during a summit of East Africa's seven-nation Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

Because of this, he said, Sudan was supporting the A.U. forces and rejecting "any form of foreign intervention."

Al-Bashir said his opposition to a U.N. peacekeeping force replacing the cash-strapped, 7,000-strong A.U. mission was based on what was happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Those lessons should not be repeated in the African continent," he said.

Plans for a U.N. force to take over from the A.U. are driven by international concern that the three-year-old conflict between two rebel groups and government-supported militia could degenerate further. More than 180,000 people have been killed and two million been displaced.

The U.N. has described Darfur as the world's most serious humanitarian crisis.

James Lawrence of the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said in an interview here that sporadic fighting and attacks against civilians was affecting relief efforts in northwest and southern Darfur.

"The biggest problem of Darfur is lack of security. It is hindering the provision of primary health care to refugees."

Aid groups have reported increased banditry and attacks against humanitarian convoys. Because of the problems the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says it has halved its operating budget in Darfur.

In a statement, the State Department criticized the Sudanese government for closing several U.S.-supported humanitarian distribution facilities, and urged Khartoum to remove all obstacles to the delivery of aid.

The government earlier mobilized tens of thousands of people to protest the proposed U.N. plan, with some demonstrators threatening a "holy war."